This is Sweetie, a female green scaly breasted lorikeet.
Sweetie was originally bought as a new mate for Bobby when it looked as if
Tweetie would either not survive or would refuse to have anything to do
with Bobby.
Sweetie arrived with Olive and quite soon it was obvious that they had bonded
together and were not happy to be separated. A week or so after Sweetie arrived
she became quite sick and it was not clear that she would survive. After
some antibiotics she quickly perked up and returned to her noisy self and
when placed back in the aviary with Olive she appeared to fully recover.

Sweetie has learned a new range of sounds and Olive now copies these, she
is particularly fond of warm weetbix in honeyed water and with Olive will
make excited clicking and rasping sounds as they both guzzle the liquid.
She loves perching on a shoulder and will snuggle under an ear pressing her
body as close as possible to get some heat. Warm breath into her feathers
makes her buzz slightly with pleasure and after a few minutes she will fall
asleep. This is a real strange feeling having a small lorikeet fast asleep
on your shoulder.

Another favourite food shared with Olive is a biscuit. This will be rapidly
turned to dust while making soft squeak sounds, any attempt to remove the
biscuit results in a loud screeching complaint and sometimes a gentle nip.

Sweetie is the whole essence of what keeping lorikeets is all about. She is
very friendly, loves people and is an exceptional character, seeking
out human company at every opportunity then gently communicating with beak
rubbing up a cheek, licking around an ear, eyebrows, and snuggling into a
wooly jumper cooing her pleasure the whole time.

Although absolutely lovable there is a niggling horror that Sweetie appears
weakened by her bout of sickness as she has never recovered 100%. This
can be seen in her flying which will often tire her too quickly and she will
miss landing where she intended. She has been checked by the Vet and everything
looks good so we are hopeful that she will get stronger with time.
In meantime she just needs lots of attention (and gets it!)

24 May 2000
Sadly this morning about 8am Sweetie died. The last two days she spent most
of the day sleeping. When she did wake she was quite alert and looked normal,
a visit to the vet yesterday did not show any obvious problems or reason
for her tiredness. She was given some antibiotic and spent last night in the
nextbox with Olive. This morning at 7am she appeared ok and was eating and
drinking. About 10am she was found dead on the aviary floor. Sweetie will be
missed.